Selectmen want boards and departments to check before spending money on legal advice

Friday

Jul 26, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Michael D. Kane BANNER EDITOR

The Board of Selectmen is reaffirming a longstanding policy that departments seeking to get advice from town counsel must first notify the town administrator. This comes after the town’s legal account went over budget last year.

Town Administrator Martin McNamara last week asked selectmen to authorize a $6,000 transfer from unused money in the Highway Department budget to cover the shortfall. The town budgeted about $70,000 for legal services last year, he said.

In terms of legal expenses, it was a busy year, he noted. Several contracts were negotiated, there were issues with the Mile Hill Road cell tower agreement and an issue with the paving of the Hillside driveway, among others, he noted.

However, some questions posed by departments and boards may have already been answered for the town and do not need to cost money for the answer, selectmen noted. Specifically, McNamara noted some questions about the library project should have been directed to the project’s architect, not town counsel.

“(McNamara) may know the answer,” Selectmen Chairman James Wood said. “(He) or we as a board may know the answer already.

Selectman Michael May questioned the legal spending by the School Department, which he had reviewed while signing the bi-weekly town warrant. He said that department also had expenditures that should have been handled differently. However, McNamara pointed out the district has its own legal counsel, as it does in most places. While McNamara did not speculate as to why, he noted it does allow the town’s largest department to access its legal team as needed.

May requested that McNamara reach out to Superintendent Nadine Ekstrom about discussing whether consolidation could be beneficial to the town.